PlayStation 4 May Allow Video Sharing, Come in 2013

Following yesterday’s Sony tease, rumors suggest PlayStation 4 will be announced this month, released this year and let players share videos.

By IGN Staff

Following today's Future of PlayStation tease from Sony, new rumors suggest that the PlayStation 4 will be announced this month, released this year and may even let players share videos and screenshots directly.

Anonymous sources have told both Polygon and The Wall Street Journal that the event will indeed be the announcement of Sony’s next console and that Sony is aiming to release the system before the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Sony “is planning to incorporate more social gaming aspects into the new machine” and “is more focused this time on the changes in how users interact with the machine.”

Edge Online, meanwhile, also reports that the next PlayStation will be out before the end of the year in the U.S. and Japan (but early 2014 in Europe) and says it will be more powerful than the next console from Microsoft. The system will allegedly feature a redesigned controller, which fits with rumors of Sony abandoning the DualShock that circulated earlier this month. According to Edge, the system “will ship with a redesigned controller which is the same size as an existing DualShock but features a small touchpad in place of the existing Select, Start and PS buttons. The tech is based on Vita’s rear touchpad, and is similarly responsive in use.”

Edge also refers to specific elements of the controller mentioned in a leaked list of specs last week. Specifically, Edge says Sony’s new controller will feature a Share button that will “launch a new feature that will allow screenshots and video to be distributed online.” The system will reportedly “continually record the most recent 15 minutes of onscreen action, which users will then be able to edit and broadcast via the Internet.”

For now, the future of PlayStation is uncertain, but Sony told IGN yesterday "The PlayStation meeting will be about the future of the PlayStation business." Our PlayStation team will attend Sony’s event in New York City later this month, so keep checking back for confirmed news as it’s announced.